Successive connection electrical connector

ABSTRACT

Electrical connector achieving a connection in a predetermined and readily modifiable sequence, by positioning in several stages, considered in the direction of their length, the conductor elements which are to be connected together, a plurality stages of locations being formed in the insulating socket of the connector, into which can penetrate catches carried by the said elements.

United States Patent 1191 Carre Oct. 16, 1973 SUCCESSIVE CONNECTION ELECTRICAL 3,002,170 9/1961 Clouthier 339/217 J x CONNECTOR 2,991,440 7/1961 Kukla 339/198 P X 3,432,795 3/1969 Jayne 339/17 L [75] Inventor: Jacques Carre, Suresnes, France 73 A P F v FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 sslgnee' fame 1,323,749 4/1963 France 339/217 s [22] Filed: May 3, 1972 21 AppL NOJ 249 794 Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion Assistant Examiner-Lawrence J. Staab Att0meyJohn W. Malley et al. [30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 28, 1971 France 7119582 [57] ABSTRACT 52 s 3 339 3 339 217 3 339 17 M Electrical connector achieving a connection in a pre- 51 1111.01. H01r 29/00, HOlr 13/42 determined and readily modifiable sequence, y p 53 Field f Search 339/ 1 31 49 17 M, tioning in several stages, considered in the direction of 339/134 5 9 A, 195 A 19 A, 19 p their length, the conductor elements which are to be t 9 2 7 connected together, a plurality stages of locations being formed in the insulating socket of the connec- 5 R f r Cited tor, into which can penetrate catches carried by the UNITED STATES PATENTS elements- 3,497,866 2/1970 Patton 339/217 S X 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures SUCCESSIVE CONNECTION ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR The present invention relates to the field of electrical connector devices, for providing detachable connections between electrical circuits.

These connectors are generally made up of two main parts which comprise, in insulating mountings which in the following will be respectively referred to as the socket and the movable plug, conductor elements for effecting the electrical connection proper, and equipped with complementary respectively hollow and relief portions which can penetrate into one another under conditions of elastic friction, during the connection movement.

' However, if the number of conductors to be connected is large, the force which has to be applied in order to effect the connecting and disconnecting operations, which is due to each elementary friction force, and is therefore proportional to the number of elements, becomes very high and can make it necessary to use additional bulky and expensive devices, of the kind known for example as extractors, in order to effect these operations it should be noted that this force is not constant throughout the whole of the penetration phase and is at its maximum the instant at which penetration of the pins into the sleeves takes place, this being effected through the medium of conical parts formed at the free ends of the male pins and helping to align respective axes of symmetry of the complementary interpenetrating contacts.

There is a second drawback, associated with connectors of prior art design.

In fact, although all the relief parts or pins maybe designed to penetrate simultaneously into all the complementary hollow or sleeve parts, the connection of all these elements does not generally take place absolutely simultaneously, either as a consequence of small erratic variations in their lengths or positions, or as a consequence of an accidental lack of parallelism between the respective planes defined by the ends of the plugs and sleeves at the time of their connection.

This lack of absolute simultaneity, may, in some connector applications, constitute a serious drawback, the connected circuits then being subjected, during the connection phase, to voltages and currents which differ from those scheduled for normal operation, and may result in the impairment and indeed, in the case of semiconductors for example, in the destruction of certain electrical components embodied by these circuits.

It should be necessary for at least certain reference potentials, such as the earth potentials for example, to be fixed before certain operating potentials, a condition which is is not easily and economically attainable in prior art connectors.

The connector in accordance with the present invention enables these two drawbacks to be overcome. In its principle, it brings about the interpenetration of its complementary conductor elements not simultaneously but successively, the overall connections being achieved in several stages.

More precisely, the invention relates to a successive connection electrical connector for electrical circuits, comprising two sets of conductor elements for performing said connections by penetration of the elements of one of the sets into those of the other, fixed in two insulating material mountings, which are provided with locations in the form of grooves, and the said elements with lateral relief parts, the elements being fixed by introduction of said relief parts into said grooves, wherein said grooves are arranged in at least two stages distributed in the direction of said penetration.

The invention will be better understood from a consideration of the ensuing description and with reference to the attached FIGS. where F 16. 1 illustrates a connection in accordance with the invention FIG. 2 illustrates a first arrangement of conductor elements in the conductor FIG. 3 illustrates a second arrangement of these elements FIG. 1 illustrates one of the two parts of a connector in accordance with the invention. This part is made up of an insulatingmounting 1 and a set of conducting elements such as those 2 or 3, respectively pins 2 or sleeves 3.

If the insulating mounting is fitted with pins, this part of the connector is generally a movable plug; if it is equipped with sleeves, then it is the part generally known as a socket and usually fixed.

In the present example of a connector in accordance with the invention, FIG. 1 illustrates the case of a socket, equipped with fixing lugs marked 4.

The conductor elements such as 2 and 3, represented in the figure, by way of example, with relief portions or male and female plugs, respectively are provided with fixing catches 5 and 6 arranged at the end of flexible springs 7 and 8, and a connecting lug 9.

The insulating mounting contains locations such as those marked 10, the length 11 of which is substantially equal to that of the conductor elements 12 so that these latter can be introduced and arranged in proper position, provided that their catches 5 and 6 are in the retracted position, something which is readily achieved by bending the springs 7 and 8.

The operation of this kind of device 'is as follows During the introduction of a conductor element, it is passed into one of the locations 10, by a sliding movement when it arrives in the desired position, the catches are located opposite openings such as those numbered 12, formed in the insulating mountings, into which openings they penetrate and thus fix in position the associated element.

In accordance with the invention, the insulating mounting is provided, in respect of each location, with a series of locking openings such a those 12, 13, 14, located at different levels in these locations This plurality of locking openings makes it possible for the user to select, in accordance with each application, the level of the conductor element in the connector and, consequently, during the operations of connection and disconnection, to predetermine the order in accordance with which these operations take place.

Moreover, by the introduction of tools or rods of appropriate dimensions into the locking openings 12, the corresponding conductor element can readily be freed, and thus any desired distribution of connections can be produced or modified as required. It should be noted, moreover, that the versatility thus obtained can be achieved using conductor elements of identical dimensions; thus there is no need to provide elements of variable lengths to cope with each particular requirement.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of this kind of distribution, where the conductor elements such as those 15, 16 or 17, have been fixed in the connector at greater heights than the elements 18, 19, or 20, with the consequence that at the time of connection, the circuits associated with them will be connected before the others, in a selected sequence, thus enabling particular requirements to be satisfied, such as circuit safety requirements by previous connection of the earthing circuits, or to connect measuring instruments.

It is also possible, in the context of multistage disconnection operations thus effected by the connector in accordance with the invention, to use it for other dynamic functions such, for example, in logic circuits, as the zeroing of all the flip-flop circuit at the last stage of the disconnection, after the halting, in the preceding stage, of the operation of the other circuit elements.

FIG. 3 illustrates another distribution of conductor elements designed essentially to effect progressive connection and disconnection in order, as explained hereinbefore, to avoid the need for excessive mechanical efforts.

In the figure, an example of a four-stage distribution of the locking holes has been illustrated however, it is possible to choose some other number, and to arrange 1. A successive connection electrical connector for connecting electrical circuits in a predetermined order, said connector comprising a housing of electrical insulating material and a plurality of contacts mounted in said housing, said plurality of contacts including at least two sets arranged with their mating portions at different levels along the axis of engagement, said housing being provided with a set of grooves for each contact, the grooves of each set being arranged in at least two levels along the axis of engagement, and said contacts being provided with lateral relief parts, the contacts being releasibly secured in said housing by introduction of said relief parts into selected ones of said set of grooves, whereby said contacts are brought into electri cal connection with contacts of a complementary connector in a predetermined order when said connectors are interengaged. 

1. A successive connection electrical connector for connecting electrical circuits in a predetermined order, said connector comprising a housing of electrical insulating material and a plurality of contacts mounted in said housing, said plurality of contacts including at least two sets arranged with their mating portions at different levels along the axis of engagement, said housing being provided with a set of grooves for each contact, the grooves of each set being arranged in at least two levels along the axis of engagement, and said contacts being provided with lateral relief parts, the contacts being releasibly secured in said housing by introduction of said relief parts into selected ones of said set of grooves, whereby said contacts are brought into electrical connection with contacts of a complementary connector in a predetermined order when said connectors are interengaged. 